Queensland claims inaugural Super U20s

Queensland U20s has won the inaugural Super U20s Championship in Brisbane on Sunday defeating Melbourne Rebels U20s at Ballymore 35-5.

A try from the Melbourne Rebels side wasn’t enough to stop the Queenslanders who continued their winning form having not lost a match this year.

Throughout the Super U20s Championship there were 189 players exposed to a professional Rugby program across the five Australian Super U20s teams.

Australian Rugby Union General Manager, High Performance Ben Whitaker: “The inaugural Super U20s competition has been very pleasing and competitive, providing the next generation of players’ exposure to Super Rugby linked high performance programs over a five month preparation and competition campaign.

“All five teams have had highlights throughout the competition and should be congratulated on their efforts. Special congratulations must go to Queensland for their victory today and being crowned 2016 Super U20s champions.

“The competition has been developed to expose and prepare players for graduation through the pathway to Super Rugby. These players will now be expected to enter their club rugby programs, or for those selected, the BMW Australian U20s as improved players with an appreciation of the standards required to achieve high levels of development and performance.”

Preseason training for the Super U20s competition began in October last year with round one kicking off on Saturday 27 February, in line with the start of the Asteron Life Super Rugby season.

Throughout this time the various teams would do four field sessions a week, up to three strength and conditioning sessions, review sessions, and recovery sessions after training and matches to prepare them for life as a professional Rugby player.

Following the conclusion of the domestic U20s season the BMW Australia U20s extended squad for the Oceania Rugby U20s Championship will be picked in April.

The young Aussie side will take on the New Zealand U20s in two Junior Bledisloe clashes at Bond University, Gold Coast on Tuesday 3 May and Saturday 7 May.

The Australians will then finalise their preparations for the World Rugby U20s Championship in Manchester this June.

The Super U20s Championship is a part of the BMW Pathway to Gold Program which is designed to create the next generation of elite talent in Australian Rugby.

In the BMW Junior Gold Cup the Queensland representative teams defeated their New South Wales counterparts in both the U15s and U17s age groups. In the U15s Queensland were victorious 62-10 and in the U17s Queensland defeated NSW 26-24.